Lindstrom conceded the expense process "isn't that rigorous." He said the city is sent a monthly credit card bill from the Cambridge Trust Company, which issues the card. The Master-Card has a $9000 limit, Lindstrom said, adding "the mayor has never charged in one month anything like that."

Reeves "will delete from that [bill] items that he had charged for personal expenses," Lindstrom said. "That isn't often, I should say."

The city must rely on Reeves' word, the auditor said.

"At the moment, the only documentation that we have is the credit-card charge itself and the mayor's assurance that it is a city-related expenses," Lindstrom said.

The auditor said he hopes the credit-card issue will be addressed at a city council hearing regarding travel-related reimbursements made by city employees. That meeting is scheduled for November 7.

FBI Inquiry

Reeves acknowledged that he was visited by two FBI agents Monday afternoon. In an interview with The Crimson in his office Monday night, he said that he called his attorney and will schedule an appointment with the two agents.

Reeves declined to say Monday night which subject the agents wished to discuss.

But in an interview with The Crimson yesterday morning, he said the agents had asked about the more than $30,000 in extra salary that he got from the Cambridge school committee over the past three years.

That overpayment was subject to heated discussion within the nine-member city council earlier this fall. Reeves and other city officials said the extra money came because the school committee mistakenly paid the mayor, the committee's chair, the annual $13,000 stipend paid to its members.

The mayor's salary, now more than $44,000 a year, was adjusted in 1988 to include the stipend. Reeves said he was unaware of the overpayment, but several officials and civic leaders criticized him for not paying closer attention to his personal finances.

Special Agent William J. McMullin of the Boston FBI bureau refused to discuss the case yesterday.

"Our policy is not to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation unless [the subjects] have been charged," McMullin said.

McMullin said a visit by FBI agents does not "necessarily involve a criminal case."

In what appears to be part of a mayoral strategy, Reeves' supporters continued to attack his critics, especially the media, yesterday.